Transformers: The Headmasters (トランスフォーマー ザ★ヘッドマスターズ) is a Japanese anime television series that is a part of the Transformers robot superhero franchise. It aired from July 3, 1987, to March 25, 1988, and its 17:00–17:30 timeslot was used to broadcast Mashin Hero Wataru at the end of its broadcast. It serves as the first sequel series to the Japanese dub of the original 1984 The Transformers cartoon series in the Generation 1 franchise, followed by Transformers: Super-God Masterforce.
Development Initially, Takara, the Japanese producers of the Transformers toyline, imported the American Transformers cartoon series from 1984 to 1987. When the series came to an end with the three-part miniseries "The Rebirth" in 1987, however, Takara decided to continue the series themselves, declining to import The Rebirth and instead creating a full-length 35-episode spin-off series, Transformers: The Headmasters (two additional clips episodes were produced after the fact for direct-to-video release). Supplanting The Rebirth's position in Japanese continuity, The Headmasters occurred one year after The Return of Optimus Prime, introducing the title characters to the Transformers universe in a different way. Whereas in Western fiction, the Headmasters result from the merging of a Transformer with an organic alien being from the planet Nebulos, the Headmasters of the Japanese series are a group of small Cybertronians who departed the planet millions of years ago and crash-landed on the inhospitable planet Master. To survive its harsh climate, a select few Cybertronians constructed larger bodies called "Transtectors", to which they connected as the heads.
Story Six years after the decisive battle against Unicron, a group of rebellious Headmasters led by Weirdwolf join with Galvatron's Decepticons in an attack on Cybertron. The Headmasters, led by Cerebros, return to their home planet to aid in its defense. The situation soon gets worse when it is revealed that Vector Sigma, the super-computer at the planet's heart, is destabilizing, and Optimus Prime again sacrifices his life to save Cybertron. This proves to be only delaying the inevitable, however, as a bomb attack instigated by Scorponok turns Cybertron into a burnt-out, inhospitable husk. Rodimus Prime departs to search for a new planet for the Transformers to live on, leaving Cerebros in command, operating from the planet Athenia. Meanwhile, Scorponok replaces Galvatron- who had vanished in the explosion- as Decepticon leader, constructing a personal Transtector and redubbing himself MegaZarak to battle Cerebros' own giant form, Fortress Maximus. Although populated mainly with new characters, The Headmasters featured characters from all previous seasons, including new versions of Soundwave and Blaster, rebuilt after a duel destroyed them both as Soundblaster and Twincast. Human Daniel Witwicky and his young Autobot friend Wheelie also played major roles in the series, serving as the youthful characters for the audience to identify with. More new characters were introduced when Galvatron returned to leadership and the Decepticons embarked on a space voyage, ransacking planets in a chain of stories that introduced the Horrorcons, Autobot and Decepticon clones. Later, the Decepticon ninja six-changer Sixshot kills Ultra Magnus, and the Autobot Headmasters manage to destroy Galvatron, leaving Scorponok to become leader of the Decepticons again. When the Decepticons then return to Master, refugees from the planet are caught in a plasma bomb accident that fuses them to the arms of several Autobots and Decepticons, creating the Targetmasters, and in a final move, Scorponok attempts the destruction of Earth, only to be foiled, thanks in part to a traitorous Sixshot.
Adaptations
Not professionally released in the United States until July 5, 2011, The Headmasters was dubbed into English in Hong Kong by the dubbing company Omni Productions, for broadcast on the Malaysian TV channel, RTM1, and later the Singapore satellite station, StarTV, where it attained greater fame, leading it to often be referred to (albeit erroneously) as the "StarTV dub". The dub is, however, infamous for its poor quality, full of mistranslations and incorrect names (for example, Saibertron is pronounced "Cyberton", Blaster becomes known as "Billy", Blurr is "Wally", Jazz is "Marshall", Hot Rod is "Rodimus" (pronounced "Roadimus"), the Matrix becomes the "Power Pack", Spike is "Sparkle", Soundblaster is "New Soundwave", Metroplex is called "Philip", and Fortress Maximus is occasionally called "Spaceship Bruce"), as well as stilted and even bizarre dialogue, such as "I'll send you express to hell!" and "Fortress Maximus has come himself". Also, Wheelie does not speak in rhyme (but seems to have a slight Scottish accent), the Dinobots speak normally (Grimlock does not say his famous "Me Grimlock" at all), Raiden is known as "Grimlock", and Blurr speaks abnormally slowly. Omni also dubbed the 1990s and 2000s Godzilla films and Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, both of which are often ridiculed for poor dubbing. This dub has seen some releases in the United Kingdom, when it aired on AnimeCentral from September 13, 2007. In 2005, the full series with the original Japanese audio with subtitles and the English dub were released over 4-discs on DVD in Region 2. The full series was released on DVD in North America by Shout! Factory on July 5, 2011, without the English dub. In 2008, Madman Entertainment released the series on DVD in Australia in Region 4, PAL format. A novel based on this anime titled Transformers: The Headmasters - Dream War (トランスフォーマー ザ・ヘッドマスターズ 夢戦争) was written by Keisuke Fujikawa and released on August 25, 1987. An eight-chapter manga adaptation of this anime was written by Masami Kaneda and illustrated by Ban Magami as part of their Fight! Super Robot Life Form Transformers: The Comics (戦え！超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー ザ☆コミックス) series.
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